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tv   Washington Journal  CSPAN  September 28, 2012 7:00am-9:00am EDT

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after 8:30, we will be joined by dr. mark mccarey. we will also take your calls about workplace safety. our guest is the associate commissioner of the bureau labor statistics and the director of the iran center for health and safety in the workplace. "washington journal" is now it. host: every four years, the charge of media bias enters the presidential campaign. in 2012, it's no different. that's our topic in the first segment of the "washington journal." we want to hear from you. do you think media coverage of campaign 2012 has been fair?
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202 is the area code for our phone numbers if you want to call in. 585-3880 for democrats. 585-3881 for republicans. and 585-3882 for independents. you can also contact us via social media. twitter, our twitter handle is @cspanwj. you can make a comment and continue the conversation on our facebook page, facebook.com/cspan. in this case, no hyphen in c-span. or send us an email, journal @c-span.org. here's politte co-from a few days ago, the romney campaign, a problem with the "blame stream" media. it's one of the oldest tricks in the republican playbook in times of political crisis, blame the liberal main stream media.
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host: again, this is in politico this morning, as is this article, romney abandons blame the media strategy.
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and this is from yesterday evening, or yesterday afternoon. host: that's a little bit from that article in politico. we're going to begin with a call from kevin in stafford, virginia, on our republican line. kevin, good morning. you're first up. what do you think about media coverage of campaign 2012? caller: oh, it's biased. it totally leans against the republicans. one example is every day in
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"the washington post," whenever there is a picture printed of barack obama or mitt romney, the picture of barack obama always has that beautiful barack obama smile on it. it's the best picture they could find of barack. and then right below it, there will be a picture of mitt romney with a sneer and he's very angry, like he's yelling at a crowd. but when, in fact, there's thousands of pictures available of mitt romney with a beautiful smile on his face and really looking positive and happy. they refuse to print those pictures. for people who don't read but just look at pictures -- there's a lot of people like that. that's one thing that the mainstream media in print, in newspapers, the "new york times," "washington post," they do it all the time. they used to find every glowing picture possible of hillary clinton that they could find. host: all right, kevin, we're going to leave it there and move on to beverly in kearney,
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missouri, on our democrats line. good morning. caller: good morning, peter. host: how are you? caller: i'm fine. you look nice as usual. you know, you remind me of the richard gere in the movie "american gigolo." host: you used to say i looked like lance armstrong, i'll take that one too. now that we're beyond that -- caller: no, i mean the way he dressed. host: oh, all right. caller: he'll try on everything. host: i got to tell you, that was a little before my time. caller: oh, you should watch it. he always looked great. host: all right. hey, beverly, what do you think about media coverage of the campaign? caller: i think they go -- i think they go with whatever is the hot story of the day, you know? gosh, i remember when obama was running against mccain, and it
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seemed like every day i heard about the muslim and the birth thing, it was terrible. they didn't think that that was biased. it was the story of the day. host: beverly, you're in missouri. are you seeing a lot of campaign commercials on the air? caller: well, in mccassill and aiken. host: but not on the presidential level? caller: no, very few. i think obama has written off missouri, because even though these women here and two men, they are all -- i haven't found one democrat. host: beside yourself, huh? caller: that sort of tells me how their mind is. they're not going vote for obama, but they're not going to
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vote for romney. i asked, this one lady i ride with, she said she's not going to vote for the president this time. i didn't ask her why, because i want to remain friends, but she definitely wanted to vote republican, but she just can't bring herself to vote for romney because of what they'll do to social security, and she said mine's safe, but i have children and grandchildren. that's the way they're thinking. host: all right. beverly, it was nice to hear from you this morning in kearney, missouri. up next on our independent line is frank in tulsa, oklahoma, independent line. hi, frank. caller: hi. how are you doing? host: good.
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caller: i've noticed that when the commentators for the various media outlets talk about romney or obama that they generally fill in a lot of lurid things that are off color about romney, but nothing whatsoever about mr. obama. and another thing is everyone's dropped his middle name, you know, hussein. it just seems like he gets a lot of support whether it's intended or not. host: a lot of facebook comments already. on this topic, let's read some. we're going to begin with melvin here at the top. media were never fair. frank says no, the lame stream media is a bunch of obama lackeys. austin says, absolutely not, even the pew research center
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proved the media blackout was real. indy says i am a democrat-independent, and this is the worst i've seen the national media. i have to surf and maybe listen to the foreign news to get a down the middle view. pow mackoy romney says boo who get over it. and finally, the media want obama to be re-elected. the left will do anything and everything to keep the left wing socialist. those are some of our facebook comments this morning. if you'd like to make a comment, continue the conversation on this topic. go to facebook.com/cspan. here's "the wall street journal" this morning. swing state, a tough sell for romney. obama has a slim lead in north carolina, nevada, wider margin in new hampshire. if you come down here, we can see that currently, according to "the wall street journal"/nbc poll, barack obama leads in nevada 49% to 47%.
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he leads in new hampshire 51% to 44%, and in north carolina 48% to 46%. however, two of the three states, north carolina and nevada, both think that mitt romney is stronger on the economy. so that's one set of polls. now, we've got this other set of polls we want to show you very quickly, and this is from rasmussen, and he does -- scott rasmussen's group, rasmussenreports.com, they do a daily tracking poll. for a long time now, they've been showing this race as even. right now, they're saying -- and this gets updated daily, about 9:30 in the morning -- and they president obama and mitt romney both at 46% nationwide. and when leaners are included, it's tied at 48% apiece. and the swing state daily tracking poll, they also have
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this, and they have that tied as well, obama 46%, romney 46%. again, this is from rasmussenreports.com. scott is a republican in colorado springs. hi, scott. caller: how you doing? host: good. what do you think about the campaign media coverage so far? caller: it's a joke. i flip through the channels, and they are totally biased. the thing that really gets me is you have romney going on, the different outlets, but yet obama, he's going on "the view" and david letterman, but he won't come on fox. it seems like he really, really avoids the tough questions, and he really can't answer the questions on the economy. i'm here in colorado, and it's just as bad here as it is
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anywhere else. i hope during this election that they'll have the debates here in denver so they can really ask the tough questions. people need answers, and this mess, they've proven to everybody -- this country needs -- he always says transparency, and it's just not happening. host: scott, you're in a swing state. are you seeing a lot of campaign commercials on the air? caller: there's quite a bit. they're not flowing yet, but i go back and forth between the springs and denver, and i know i've been watching -- when they're doing the polls, they're finding out that they're asking more democrats
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than they are republicans, and they're saying, well, here's a 10-point lead, here's an 11-point lead. and from what i've seen, they're trying to go back to the 2008 turnout, and it's just not there. host: and that was scott in colorado springs. up next is dee in portland, oregon, democrat. hi, dee. caller: hey there. how you doing? it's so nice to talk to you today, and thank you for taking my calls. my observation is the problem that i have with the media is that it has a tendency to try to interject its opinions into the politics of what's going on today, and i don't care whether that's republican or democrat. i think the media has just about lost its ability to be neutral, and i find that -- or one of the examples that i would give is that when you check the politi-facts.
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whenever they give facts about the president and about mitt romney, it's really -- and he really did that stuff. you know, we all know it. and then instead of coming back , if obama is not exactly 100% on point, they will find some way or some small percentage to show that he was not exactly perfectly right, so therefore, he's discreditted too. so i'm wondering, how does the media find the medium point where they can be objective and just speak the truth instead of being concerned about the fallout of the politics? host: from "the washington times" this morning, nader, obama running selfish campaign. ralph nader, a four-time presidential candidate, says president obama should be poised for a landslide victory, but swings control of congress dramatically back to democrats, but instead he's running a
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selfish campaign that's done little to help his party on capitol hill. in an interview,, mr. nader, also predicted a major shakeup in american politics by 2016 when a billionaire political messiah will be prepared to spend his own money to force choices in the next presidential election.
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host: that's in the "washington times" this morning, and this is also in the "washington times," "man behind insulting video arrested." a california man behind a crudely produced anti-islamic video that inflamed parts of the middle east was arrested thursday. host: back to your calls on media coverage of campaign 2012. david in illinois, independent line. hi, david. caller: hello. thank you for c-span. i think c-span is pretty fair in its coverage, but i think the liberal media is totally biased.
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we even have this on a local level. they just run the major networks with news coverage. you can see they tape obama or they tape that congresswoman from florida, catching them in lies. you see it on fox news, but you never see it anywhere else. i gist -- we live here in illinois, where chicago votes for us and we don't really get a vote when you live in central or illinois. i just can't believe the vote's this close. liberal people need to pay attention and wake up. there's no reason for the job that obama's done, that he should even be over 30%. thank you for c-span. host: want to show you something. the first caller this morning, kevin from virginia, he talked about the photos in "the washington post." we just very quickly pulled yesterday's "washington post." here is the front page photo of
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both the president and mitt romney. and in today's "washington post" are these two photos on the campaign trail. you can see mitt romney up there. he was in the suburbs here in virginia. and that's his photo. and right below that is president obama, and you can see his photo. this is the president right there speaking with supporters. so those are the two photos in "the washington post" for the last two days. next call comes from eric, a republican in hedgesville, west virginia. eric, good morning to you. caller: yeah, good morning. you have to be either deaf, dumb, or stupid not to be able to see the bias in the media. take, for instance, when mccain was running for president, and the "new york times" ran a front page story, he was having an affair with this lady. you know, no proof, nothing,
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just, you know, put it out there to try to disparage mccain. i was watching brian sawyer on abc right after the 47% thing came out with romney, and she spent the first 12 minutes of her program talking about this, what romney said, and the middle east was burning down. you know, what's more important ? however, this is another thing. the top-secret information coming out of the white house going to the "new york times," you know, that puts lives at stake. they gloss over that. it's nothing. it's not covered. man, i'm telling you, if you can't see it, then you're not watching the news.
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because i try to watch all three networks and fox news, because i want to know what the liberals think. and it's just no comparison. there's definite liberal bias. host: all right, eric, thanks for calling in. and from the hill this morning, there's another video out by mother jones. obama campaign seize as romney harvest video. president obama's campaign on thursday seized on a 1985 video of mitt romney in which he discusses bain capital's business strategy, including buying stakes in undervalued companies and then planning to, within five to eight years, harvest them at a significant profit. the video was posted by the liberal mother jones magazine on thursday, the same publication that last week posted an undercover video from one of romney's closed-door fundraisers and was apparently from a cd-rom created in 1998 to commemorate the 25th
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anniversary of bain. here's a little bit of that 1985 video. >> bain capital is an investment partnership which was formed to invest in start-up companies and ongoing companies, then to take an active hand in managing them, and hopefully five to eight years later, to harvest them at a significant profit. the fund was formed on september 30 of last year. it's been about 10 months. it was formed with $37 million in invested cash, an additional $15 million or so of what i'll call a call pool, which is money we can call upon if the deals are large enough that they require more than a $2 million or $3million initial investment. why did bain get involved in this kind of a business? we're not particularly noted for having years and years of experience in financing. three reasons. we recognize that had we have the potential to develop a significant and proprietary flow of business opportunities.
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host: and dion, new jersey, democrat. what do you think about the coverage? caller: it's definitely not balanced at all. yeah, since reagan did away with the fairness doctrine, you can go on tv and say just about anything you'd like, and fox news, which wouldn't exist if it wasn't for what reagan did, and, you know, he's the guy from nixon. it's not balanced at all. you see the major networks, after the shows are over with republican speakers that were just blatantly lying, and they ask the host why they let them do it, and they say that's the only way we can get guests on
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tv is to allow these people to lie. it's not fair at all. and you, you guys put up the washington, why don't you just start with the "national enquirer"? it's all downhill from there. "the washington times," i don't know if you really read it, reverend moon, god rest his soul, his lovely paper is not exactly a newspaper. i mean, fair and balanced, fox? it's a joke. i mean, the media coverage got to be where they tell these people anyway. host: that's dion in new jersey. up next is an independent from ohio. you are on c-span. gerald, first of all, are you a true independent? have you made up your mind yet? caller: oh, yes, i made up my mind. i made up my mind quite a while ago. host: who are you going to vote for? caller: i'm strictly for obama because of the simple fact -- romney is just like the previous caller said. it's nothing but straight lies. the reason they can get away with the lies is because -- i'm
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going to be frank with you -- i think half the country are morons, illiterate, and just flat-outside stupid, so they can tell them anything they want. i pray for the country. that's the scariest thing in this country is how dumb most of the elections -- most of the citizenry is. they're just flat-out stupid. host: gerald, chances are we're going to get a reaction to that comment. caller: well, i hope so. maybe it might wake some of them up and say maybe i better start reading something and understand, because they don't have a clue. over half the country is just flat-out stupid. host: gerald, you're in ground zero when it comes to presidential campaigns. do you think the media coverage has been fair? caller: i think it's been as fair as it can be. like one caller previously said, they have to let them on, even though they know they're going to lie, because that's the only way they can get them on. i think this strategy is, tell a big enough lie because it's been that way with republicans for quite a few decades, and you'll get away with it.
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host: do you think the president's campaign lies? caller: no, not at all. i think he's a very good politician and about as honest as we can get these days. that's just my firm opinion on that. host: that was gerald in columbus, ohio. nabila puts on our facebook page, absolutely not fair, media has an agenda and bias. they have to accept ads from any party, but has changed not time given only if party has enough dollars to pay for the time. so absolutely not fair. until every candidate, regardless of campaign funds raised is given equal time on radio, tv, internet, then there is definitely inequality. paul says, is media coverage ever fair in any situation regarding politics? no. both sides have become extreme and the media is to blame. fox news is too right wing and cnn and m.s. are too left wing. it's too bad more media organizations cannot find a way to be unbiased. and john says they're more fair
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than last time around during the 2008 primary and general election, only because they want the republicans to think they have a real shot so the money coffers on the right will feel more comfortable donating large sums of money. finally maurice says the mainstream media deliberately are excluding coverage of any news that reflects badly on the obama administration. wabc radio in new york, for example, reported on the slightly better job report for this week, but made no mention of the poor g.d.p. and durable goods numbers yesterday. and we will talk about those issues with maria bartiromo of cnbc when she comes out and joins us in about 15, 20 minutes. d.w. emails in, the candidates are the result of the media. the media does not reflect the report on them, it creates them. when a candidate complains about the media, it's like a mind where the ego complains about the sub-conscious, pure illusion. becky says of course the
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mainstream media is biased. it will take a blithering idiot not to notice that. fox news is the only fair and balanced medium on the air. they always have opposing sides to their stories. sondra is a republican in empire, alabama. sondra, what do you think about media coverage of the campaign so far? caller: i think it's very biased, especially on msnbc and nbc. i don't even watch them anymore. also, i've noticed that c-span, not on the coverage of the parties, but i've noticed that they did not even cover netanyahu's speech at the u.n., but they did cover iran's ahmadinejad. host: we covered prime minister netanyahu. you can go to c-span.org now and watch it. and i believe it was live yesterday as well. caller: yeah, i was watching it on fox and said i'll go to c-span because they always have no interruptions, and i went there, and it wasn't even on, so y'all may have done it later, i don't know. but at the time i was watching it, it didn't. host: i guarantee we covered t. i guarantee you.
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caller: and there's one other thing i'd like to say, there's a news station i have found that really is unbiased. i mean, it democrats the truth, and i found it about three or four days, and it's on dish, 212, and it's called the blaze. host: the blaze? caller: it's on dish channel 212. i watch y'all every day. i've watched you for years. host: well, thank you. we appreciate you watching, sondra. how's the economy in alabama? caller: it's right now just about stead. i mean, i haven't seen anything really different. i love alabama. good to live here. host: thanks for calling in. joe lives in lorraine, ohio, democrat. hi, joe. caller: hi. good morning. host: what do you think of the coverage? caller: well, i think it's bilesed towards the republicans. i have to agree with a couple of the other callers. you know, it seems like romney and the republicans continually lie and lie and lie, and our local newspaper has a thing
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called polito-facts and will tell you if the ad is an lie. but the media on tv, they never bring up the fact, they never ask, they never state what they're saying are lies. one other thing, you know, mitt romney makes all these promises, but every time they ask them how are you going to do it, give us specifics, and he hems around and never answered, and the media lets him get away with it. is that because he doesn't want to tell the american people that, hey, i'm going take away deductions from you like the whole mortgage and your health insurance deduction. i mean, they let him get away with this and let him lie and never bring that up, and he's lying. that really bothers me. host: give us a quick snapshot of all the campaigning that's going on in ohio. you're up there near cleveland, right? caller: yes, that's correct, about 35 miles west of cleveland. it's a frenzy here. the candidates are continually coming here to visit. they're continually on the
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stump talking. and it seems like the ads on tv are giving more and more and more. it's almost to the point that i can't watch anymore, because i'm just getting cautious. host: is lorraine where they build the chevy cruz? caller: no, no. host: what do you build in lorraine? caller: well, outside lorraine is a city called avon lake, and they build ford vans there. there's a ford van plant there. host: would you describe the economy in ohio? caller: oh, it's getting better and better. it's not great, but it's getting better. i forget, they said millions of jobs have been created since obama got into office, and it is getting better. host: next call from michael on our independent line. what do you think about media coverage of campaign 2012? caller: well, i think it's the
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worst i ever seen. the liberal democrats on msnbc and cnn, they are just covering up for this president. i mean, we had a terrorist attack on the anniversary of 9/11, and this president dropped the ball, him and hillary clinton. they dropped the ball, and they covered it up. we voted for the man the first time. we will not vote for the man this time. he lied about marriage being between a man and a woman, and he stabbed us in the back, and he went with the homosexuals, and that's the one on these networks that are in a frenzy. they're going crazy. they want this man re-elected so he can give them more and more rights. and the people better wake up and run this man out of town. thank you. host: from "the hill" this newspaper, a congressional presser grows for obama on libya consulate attack.
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host: and there is from the "new york times," september, november, 40 precious days to spend on early voting. a stream of voters, the dateline is des moines, a stream of voters arrived at election offices across iowa to cast their ballots.
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host: the president is on executing a plan to accrue more votes over the next 40 days. and there's a chart in this story. 36% of iowans voted early in 2008. 30% in ohio voted early. 61% in north carolina. and nevada, 67%. colorado, nearly 80% of voters voted early in that state. 21% in wisconsin. half in florida voted early. virginia, about 14%. and new hampshire, about 10% voted early. so, that's from the "new york times" this morning. here's "the washington times" this morning, the lead story, obama focuses on two other jobs, campaigning and cash raising, take up time. if it's for sports champions and terrorists, president obama's public schedule for
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september would be nearly empty of official events, as he devoted most of his time to campaigning for re-election.
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host: kell say republican in frederick, maryland, and kelly, you are on the "washington journal." what do you think about media coverage of campaign 2012? caller: i do think it's biased, but i also think that we need more coverage on what happened in libya, because the ambassador is one of the biggest insults and disrespect you can show to a country and to our president. but i think that the reason mitt romney could be really good for our country is that he was a very successful businessman, and we need to stop criminalizing success in this country, and i think the focus on redistributing the wealth is just completely not going to help our country. what we need is a smart businessman who knows how to balance the budget, run a business, and create a situation where businesses are going to succeed and then help
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those people in the 47% that take handouts, help them be able to support themselves and contribute to our country. i think that's what mitt romney really wants, but it's been kind of covered up by all this coverage over his 47% comment. if people are taking money because they need it, i think that he's the person who can create a situation where those guys can get to work and be proud behalf they contribute to our country. host: that's kelly in frederick, maryland. "new york times," obama fills in blanks. obama's plan and g.o.p. sees false hood. michael cooper writes --
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host: this is from "the washington post," game over. libyan authorities sent rebels fighting bashar al-assad's government text messages reading game over. host: ryan in ports mouth, virginia. democrat, ryan, good morning to you whoosm do you think about media coverage so far? caller: it's good, but they got my name wrong. it's bryant. host: thanks, bryant. got to turn down the volume,
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bryant. just talk on the phone. there you go. caller: there you go. host: go ahead, brian. caller: i'm listening to c-span and everything, but i have to say that being a navy veteran and in the active reserves, i can tell you that mitt romney -- as a republican or a democrat, you want the truth. a millionaire, billionaire, whatever his money he made in the past, his fathers are blaming that he quotes a lot about coming from a poor nation , just doesn't buy it. the 47%, talking about it in meetings, billionaire friends, that's find to understand it. if you want to hold on, but what he said about the 47% is really bad.
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and my friends in the reserves, active duty, we're going to vote for president obama, ok? he has done great. now, you have to remember, he's only been in office for four years. he inherited a problem from the bush administration of eight years. the iraq war, we supported whatever money the president gave to go to war. no problem with that. it's just that our country needs to be returned back to the middle class. the rich, that's fine how they made their money, how they became successful. but when you look at it, we all are americans. host: oh, sorry, brian. i thought you were finished there. i apologize for cutting you off like that. from "the hill," soros donates $1 million to pro-obama super p.a.c. george soros has donated $1 million to priorities u.s.a., the super p.a.c. backing president obama's re-election. the donation comes as a shift
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for soros, who doe noted to other pro-democratic super p.a.c.'s early this year and long bank rolled a number of liberal grass roots organizations, but had yet to give any money directly towards supporting obama. according to reports, soros has been less than thrilled with obama at times, and after democrats took a drubbing at the polls in 2010, he told other big-time democratic donor that is they should start looking somewhere else to donate. he did, however, donate $1 million in may to american bridge, a democratic opposition research super p.a.c., digging up dirt on republicans, including mitt romney. that's from "the mill." independent line, hi. caller: yes, that's me. host: go ahead. we're listening. caller: i'm leaning towards republican. for the media, i don't think they're fair to the other party . i'm talking to republicans.
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she got away with everything. first of all, i am greek. you know what that mean? very important person represents america over there and they kill him. and he wants to party. she went to nevada. this is embarrassing. this is ridiculous. i guess i'm republican. host: that was melanie in severna park, maryland. michael is in new albany, ohio, republican line. hi. caller: yes, good morning. first of all, we are still prayerfully and truthfully supposed to be by the people and for the people. i congratulate your news coverage in allowing the voice of the people to be heard.
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now, the independent woman that was just up and the republican woman a little bit ago, they were right on with what's going on. these democrats that came on that were speaking from ohio here right outside my back door in columbus and up there in cincinnati, they must have their covers over their eyes or are not watching what's going on, because it's true, ohio is the state that's going to determine that if you remember back to the other election, the previous one, this is where all that acorn stuff went on. this is where all the people were charged with voting two, three, four times, people they couldn't even find they were putting in votes. i got news for you. obama's already had the buses on the college campuses they're. they've already been giving their secret promises and all this stuff out of their mouth to get these votes for the early voting. they're already using and doing illegal things they can do to get obama back in, who has done
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nothing but lied since he has been in office. they tried to call mitt romney a liar. they try to make him look bad just because he's made it well in the financial world. tell me, when you have all the money already, why would someone want to take a fortified $100,000 job to begin the sight of a rifle, your family in peril, worrying about being kidnapped, worrying about being bombed or dying to be the president of the united states? host: and that was michael in ohio. this is from breitbart, media put 18,000 people in not quite full 5,000-seat arena for obama in wisconsin. president barack obama is having trouble drawing large crowds on the campaign trail, they write at the democratic national convention in charlotte. his campaign was forced to move his acceptance speech from the 74,000-seat bank of america stadium to the 20,000-seat time warner cable arena, citing weather. but the media are always eager
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to help, for example, putting 18,000 people inside a 5,000-seat arena at an obama event in milwaukee on saturday. this is from a week ago. host: that's from the breitbart website. this is from "the hill" newspaper, healthcare and obama making gains. president obama maintains a 20-point advantage over mitt
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romney on medicare and his signature healthcare law is more popular than it has been in years, according to a new survey. september's kaiser health tracking poll had mostly good news for obama, but this was tempered by one finding, that two in three seniors believe the healthcare law directly cuts medicare benefits. a frequent attack line from romney, the cuts claim points to the law's $716 billion in reductions to medicare provider payments. overall, the poll found that 45% of u.s. adults have a favorable view of the healthcare law, while 40% have an unfavorable view. and here's the front page of the "boston globe" this morning, this owe lit wary is in a lot of papers, but john silver, boston university leader, dies. his temp he is oust quarter century as president of boston university brought the school to new levels of academic excellence and financial
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stability while creating an atmosphere of conflict and controversy, and who, in 1990, came within 77,000 votes of becoming governor of massachusetts, died of kidney failure on thursday in his brookline home. he was 86 years old. last call in this first segment of the "washington journal" comes from malika in warner robbins, georgia, on our democrats line. caller: thank you for taking my call. host: go ahead. what do you think about media coverage so far this year? caller: well, i think the media -- i think they adequately reflect the temperament of our society, and you have the republicans, like fox news, rush limbaugh, i mean, i just think they're really narrow-minded, and they don't want to change their views in our society, which is changing. i just believe that they're racist and unpopular in our day and age. they just need to understand that we're changing.
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we're living in a changing world. there's different people, there's different races. there's different religions, and they don't want to accept that. they don't want to change their mindset. so, in the end, they campaign about the media coverage being biased, but when they look at it, the media coverage is not reflecting -- i mean, it's small, because their views are small. i think the media adequately reflects what the larger part of society feels. host: when you hear that somebody is a fox news watcher, do you immediately assume or think of them as potentially racist? caller: i do. because fox news, that's all -- i wish they knew people. i wish they knew other views. you know, the way they bash president obama, i mean, if he were white, you know, it would be different. i think they would look at it differently. i just don't think that -- i just think they're
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narrow-minded. they probably don't think they're racist, you know, but it's just how they put things out there, how they portray different groups and different people. you know, for instance, the muslims, they're just bad people. i'm a muslim, you know? why would they think that they're these bad people? i mean, the terrorists were bad. it wasn't everybody. i just think they're just really narrow-minded. host: all right. thanks for calling in this morning. a couple of emails before we close out this first segment. guy walker says of course news outlets are for the little guy. that's the history, tattling on the fat cats. that's what sells papers. the republican party is the party of the fat cats and of the robber barons. history proves they cannot be trusted. ron in colorado says, we have a fox 31 station, local station, that spins the coverage for the democratic party. when romney went to grand
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junction, the story was why he was avoiding denver. when ryan spoke in colorado, the story was not what he said, it was that he did not speak about his controversial budget. if the station is there to cover the news, why are they attempting to spin the news to their perspective? and bob in venice, florida, says fox news is unbiased and factual? this is news of great magnitude or more likely a kool-aid-induced hallucination. they are merely an ex-stream wing of the republican party designed to increase stupidity among its viewers, with considerable success. that's bob in venice, florida. coming up in just a few minutes -- maria bartiromo from cnbc will join us to have a conversation about the economy. you'll be able to talk to her as well. and then after that, we will have the author of this book, who is a physician, a surgeon, at johns hopkins hospital in baltimore, "unaccountable" is the name of the book, what hospitals won't tell and you
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how transparency can revolutionize healthcare. marty makary is the author of that book, and he'll be joining us after maria bartiromo, and we will be right back. >> my opponent and his running mate are big believers in top-down economics. they basically think that if we just spend another $5 trillion on tax cuts that favor the very wealthiest, then -- don't boo. vote. vote. vote. >> we got one new idea. one thing he did not do in his first four years, he said he's going to do in the next four years, which is to raise taxes. and is there anybody who thinks that raising taxes will help grow the economy? >> no! >> no, his plan is to continue what he has done before, the
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status quo has not worked. we cannot afford four more years of barack obama. we're not going to have four more years of barack obama. >> wednesday, president obama and mitt romney meet in their first presidential debate. the news hour's jim lehrer moderates from the university of denver. watch and engage with c-span, including our live debate preview at 7:00 p.m. eastern, the debate at 9:00, and post-debate, your reactions, calls, and emails and tweets. follow our live coverage on c-span, c-span radio, and online at c-span.org. >> september 11, 2001, was a day that changed my life forever. it changed america's life. i'm going to go through a power point presentation, which is going to outline the account, the historical account of the attack as things happened, as things transpired that day. it gets pretty intense. a lot of things happened very quickly. i'm going to do my best not to ramble on and go too fast, but
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i would ask to you sit back, clear your mind, put yourself in that room, and you'll get a real sense of what it was like to be at the top of the food chain, the national command authority, as a nation of 300 million americans was attacked by 19 al qaeda terrorists. >> more from retired lieutenant colonel robert darling, inside the president's bunker, this weekend on american history tv, sunday at 7:30 p.m. eastern and pacific on c-span3. "washington journal" continues. host: joining from us our new york studio is a familiar face to anyone who's ever turned on cnbc, maria bartiromo, who is the anchor of "closing bell" on that channel. maria bartiromo, i want to start by asking two headlines this morning in the "wa
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host: how would you describe our economy? caller: i think the economy has worsened. you have jobs problems pretty severe. a 0.1% of the country without a job. the unemployment rate is more like 12% of the country. you mentioned the durable-goods numbers. things like washing machines and other expensive items have slowed and people are waiting to put money down on important purchases. growth was revised downward. to show a growth in number of
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1.3% that was pretty anemic. things have worsened. then businesses were sitting on their cash. corporate america since the financial crisis has slimmed down. companies they've cut so much, cut to the bone, cut investment, cut r&d spending, so they're sitting on some $3.6 trillion in cash on balance sheets. the issue is that they're not spending it. they're not spending it because there's so much uncertainty in this economy. you know, they don't know where tax rates will be next year. they don't know what the regulatory environment will look like next year. they don't know what demand will look like next year. and so, because of these uncertainties as a result of
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the fiscal cliff and the fact that we haven't had any policies really coming out of congress and the white house to really fix this, it's all been monetary policy, the federal reserve has really been the only one out there, the only game in town to really provide stimulus for this economy. we don't have an energy policy. we haven't had a budget in three years. as a result, businesses are waiting to see what happens in this election, and they're waiting to see what their lives will look like tax rates, regulation, etc., they're upset about the healthcare expense, so they're waiting until after the election to really decide if, in fact, they will hire new workers and put new money to work. i think we really are in standstill right now. host: here's the headline, "wall street braces for an obama win." mitt romney was wall street street's candidate, a former private equity executive,
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committed to lower taxes and less regulation, who would never rip bankers as fat cats as president barack obama famously did. now many masters of the universe concede they may not get their man. across wall street and the broader landscape of corporate america, even strong supporters of romney acknowledge that swing state polling numbers in the direction of economic data and markets suggest it's time to brace for a second obama term. i want to ask you also about that, using the word "brace" in this story. guest: well, yeah, i think the president has had an an tag natural particular relationship with business. i think that's pretty clear. and so he did over the last several months, i think, lose the independent vote and certainly the business vote, and so the numbers show that he's actually winning. i could understand that now they're disappointed, because
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they were counting on some competition. but i don't think you can really tell right now. it's hard to know how accurate the polls are. in some cases, moot meet i can't is polling democrats. in other cases, i think people don't necessarily tell you what they're thinking and what they want to do. it's probably likely that, you know, that we see a very, very close race. you know, it could be -- it could go either way. i'm just not sure right now how accurate those polls are. but i understand the word "brace," because the business community has, i think, looked at this presidency and been disappointed because, you know, what i'm hearing from c.e.o.'s, and i'm able to speak to business managers and c.e.o.'s really all day long on cnbc and certainly on my program, which is in the afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon, and what they tell me is that oftentimes they are asked to
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visit the white house. for example, when the president was, you know, selling his healthcare package, you know, he invited a number of the healthcare c.e.o.'s to the white house under the idea that he wanted to get their input, and he wanted to hear what was going on in healthcare and how, you know, the legislation should change or be altered to sort of address some of the issues that he was going to hear from them. but what i heard from virtually every single healthcare c.e.o. that went there is that they arrived, they did a photo op, they took some pictures, the president spoke to them, gave a speech basically, and then left. so, what i'm hearing increasingly is that, you know, he's not necessarily listening to the executives that go to his office. he has his own ideas, and regardless of what whether or not they come there and explain their so-called plight or what they would like to see in order to actually put more money into
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the economy and hire new workers, he's not listening to them. you know, and i think that there is some truth to the idea that the president has a very small circle of advisors, and that's who he decides policy with. he doesn't really take the input of business people who are on the ground, who are knee deep in working on this economy and hiring and have the ability to hire. i do think the business community has been disappointed. they are in lock down mode. host: from bob woodward's new book, he recounts a conversation between the former verizon ceo and here is talking to valerie jarrett, according to bob
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woodward. guest: yeah. i have heard the same things. i have heard that the president likes to appear like he's getting input from the business community. he doesn't listen and act on that input. he has an ideology of the solutions that are needed for the economy. that's where he is focused rather than speaking to business people. "here's what we need to make sure we put more money into the economy."
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i think there is a division to the solutions to the way forward. i think the business community believes the need to create an environment that is favorable for business so that they will put their money to work in the economy. a key example is the tax on profits that they derive from overseas markets and bring back here. this is a big debate. they are taxed in the local market and bring the money back to the u.s.. there's a big movement by executives to eliminate that second tax said they could bring some money back into the u.s. rather than investing it in plants and people overseas.
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small business -- i was with the small business administration and in number of small businesses -- the majority are smaller businesses. this is where the job creation in the country comes from. small businesses are saying they often times pay the ordinary income tax rate as opposed to the corporate tax rate because they have a smaller number of employees. they fall under the ordinary income tax bracket. we talk about higher taxes on millionaires it is not just individual that get impacted by that. it is small businesses. they are going to wait to put money to work and to hire anyone because they want to make sure
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they understand what that looks like. you have a portion of small businesses and multinational businesses that get impacted by these tax rates and by this uncertainty. they probably will be more less willing to put money to work, which is a problem. we need their money to work in order to see growth. we need job creation and economic growth. neither of which is happening because of the uncertainty. host: maria bartiromo is the anchor or "closing bell with maria bartiromo." she also writes a column monthly for "usa today."
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first journalist to report live of the floor of the new york stock exchange in 1995. lansing, michigan. caller: hi. .'m happy to speak with maria she is exactly where i'm at. we were about to expand our business to a second restaurant. we could not because of what was happening on wall street. then we waited. "give it a year or two and the president would turn it around." he did not turn it around. was saved's job at gm by president obama. my restaurant has to make $1
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million for me to pay all the employees and the 33 taxes we have in business. me and my husband only make $100,000. i pay 39% in taxes which is $30,000 or more. he pays $3,000. how is that there? host: thank you. maria bartiromo? guest: it is unfortunate. you have a large swath of people that are getting impacted by a significant taxes. look at the numbers. it is debatable whether this group should be combined with the so-called millionaire's and billionaires. raising taxes on people, individuals making more than
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$250,000, that is a risky proposition. a good friend of mine works for government. they bring in about $250,000. they have three kids. after they pay for food and kids and gas, there is nothing left over. they are living pretty much close to paycheck to paycheck. do not get me wrong. i am not saying $250,000 is not a lot of money. it doesn't add up. it is those people who are going to pull back and they are going to say, "i did not have the
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texture will room -- i do not have the extra wiggle room to buy a new car." the taxation debate is real. this is one of the big things that is dividing the country. host: bill in massachusetts. caller: good morning. i can remember when you used to do news chitin's at all hours of ut-ins.ning -- news chiti i would like to talk about the national debt and the dumbing down of america. i don't think the american people can grasp what $1 trillion is or maybe $1 million
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. if you down the road would take on the dollar bill, it is 6 inches wide. when the government spends a dollar bill, they borrow two and 5/8 inches of that dollar bill. something visual like that might cause people to think a little bit longer. host: we got the point. guest: i think bill is onto something. it is hard to give your arms around what $1 trillion is and really it to yourself.
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we faced a debt of $16 trillion in this country. it is ok when things are going well. at some point, when you are beholden to that lender, you make concessions. oftentimes that lender will make demands. at some point, who is to say we did not hear from the chinese who might say, we will buy your dad or your treasuries -- we will buy your debt year treasuries. the federal reserve has been providing so much stimulus to the economy. interest rates have been at rock-bottom levels. when interest rates start to
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move, and it can happen at any time, interest rates will spike and a sharp level. there will be problems in terms of the federal reserve stopping -- we don away rate need tax reform. we have been talking about tax reform for a long time. there is an opportunity for people to manipulate the numbers because there are too many loopholes. a lot of economists say if you lower corporate taxes to a level that makes it a favorable environment for businesses, businesses will start hiring again. so much these easy ways for people to pay lower rates and that
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would broaden the tax rates. this is an idea that has been bandied about yet nobody is moving on this. the president has not changed the tax code. to complain that people are not paying their fair share and complain about the tax code seems strange. you cannot borrow for ever. liggett what is going on in spain and italy and throughout europe -- look at what is going on in spain and italy. at some point this debt will come back to haunt us. you cannot borrow for ever. we have learned that from europe. when you start implementing
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sharp austerity, you will see a social unrest throughout madrid. you have protesters pouncing on the floor of parliament because they do not want the austerity. we can i get to the point. that is a dangerous scenario. we need to hear our leadership communicate that this is an issue but we are handling it. we haven't really seen that. host: this story this morning from "the financial times." will assure that article -- we will show you that article. "closing bell with maria why is the stock market at
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13,500 points ? guest: there is a disconnect in the stock market versus the real economy. remember, this latest act by the fed is completely open ended. the federal reserve will be buying mortgage-backed securities to the tune of $40 billion a month and interest rates will be at rock-bottom rates until 2015. savers are getting the short end of the stick. you're getting no yield with a simple savings account. there aren't any alternatives to
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stocks. what is the attraction to keeping your money under the mattress? it is a bigger potential for reward if you put your money into the stock market, particularly companies that pay dividends. you have competitive yields. money has shifted into equities. everybody is searching for yield and for some kind of an interest rate. there are unintended consequences of the monetary policy. we need a fiscal policy. this fiscal cliff is also very
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dangerous. you have tax cuts which will expire at the end of the year when spending programs will expire. americans will face -- those people in the metal in terms of income -- they will face the highest tax increase since world war ii. that will happen in january 1 unless these guys get together and do some kind of a grand bargain or an extension. there is such hatred and they cannot make a deal. the tax cuts will expire. the spending programs expiring is another problem. there are federal programs for health care companies, they get federal dollars so they can do
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those programs. those programs are going away january 1. they will have to notify employees that their jobs are cut. a host of layoffs at year and as a result of ignoring the fiscal cliff. that is why there is some much talk about it. we're walking on shaky ground. the president has not been able to provide the leadership required to get these groups together, the right and the left. part of the job of the commander in chief has to be to bring these groups together. for congress to say we're going on vacation and going away after the election with nothing done
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about the fiscal cliff is truly irresponsible. there is no leadership in terms of bringing these groups together and that is sad and leaving all these people who'll get caught in terms of these jobs. people are hanging in the balance and i find that extraordinary. host: we have a tweet for you, maria bartiromo. guest: i think small business is worried about falling under the ordinary income level. their taxes will go up. the biggest impact would be a change in the tax code. that would eliminate the opportunity for private equity and hedge fund managers to file
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under capital gains, which is much lower than when their income, and have to go to ordinary income. you create a better environment for business. they will see higher expenses in terms of their tax rate. they will put that money to work in terms of hiring more people. remember, these companies are also facing an increased tax surrounding health-care. that is another issue. i here at the expense of health care has risen considerably and it will continue to rise. if we were to see a change in the health-care costs, that would eliminate a big pressure for small business.
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i hear upset over the tax code and over health care expense as well as the regulatory environment, which includes a handful of fees. host: next call comes from boston, jerard. caller: hi, maria. i look at this debt thing. you need to protect the money. the economy would be saved by protecting the dollar. the government takes in $four trillion in taxes but bar money from china -- but borrow money from china. they takein $4 trillion and our
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borrowing $6 trillion. who is giving these loans? guest: you have china buying our treasuries. there are not a lot of alternatives out there. the u.s. is the best house in a bad neighborhood. europe is a mess. when you're on the other side of a trade and you know your competitor is under pressure financially, you hold the cards in some regard. you do not want to get to a point with the chinese say, "we will do this but we want higher interest rates." it would be much costlier for
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average folks because rates would follow suit and we would see a spiraling out of control. you do not want some other player having the cards like that. you need to see economic growth for this country. we are seeing growth contract. it is just ok. it is not where we should be at this moment in the recovery. next year as a result of going over the fiscal cliff, most economists say will see a recession in 2013. if we were to see a recession in 2013, once again we will s
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ee interest rates react. it is about the bond market. host: jim is in south carolina, republican. morning.good romney pays taxes at a rate of 14% and the obama camp assailed that. they're the ones that could've done something about the tax rate. how can bill clinton get away with clement the republicans were the ones who deregulated and created the financial problems when he repealed glass- steagall in 1999? that was the underpinning of the
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whole problem. all the big banks went under, almost all of them. how can he get away with that ? does he not want to admit it? how does he make that statement? host: maria bartiromo? guest: it is political football. number one on the tax code. we could have seen changes over the last few years. change the tax code. it is all legal. they can use loopholes, and so they would do it.
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it is not illegal. it is what they could pressure due because of loopholes are available to them. lower the corporate tax rate and broaden the base. we have not seen anybody do that. we are hearing a lot of attacks on wealth and business and as people who supposedly are not paying their fair share but there is nothing that anybody is doing about it. votewant the constituents' of that person who is paying a lower rate. bill clinton is a seasoned, amazing politician. he is loved on both sides of the aisle. he talked about the economy.
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what he has going for him is the record of balancing the budget and having a budget surplus. that was a moment in time when bill clinton was overseeing this great country when we were in the dot.com boom. it was a new era. were very vibrant. he oversaw a balanced budget and a budget surplus, giving him that kind of credibility in terms of economics. i was talking to bill clinton about the fiscal cliff. i said straight out to him -- what do you think about the fiscal cliff? first he entered something
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political. "does that mean the tax cut should be extended?" he was backed into a corner. he said everything should be extended. we ran that interview. an e-mail said he had to retract something that he said. "what are you retracing?" "the tax cuts should be extended for people making under $250,000 ." the obama people call the clinton people and said you need to go out and take that statement backed . it was a pretty big brouhaha.
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bill clinton things everything should be extended. , i dide right now h not think he will repeat that. host: is it tough to get a second interview with him? guest: absolutely. he will not go down that road and talk about taxation. bill clinton says what he feels, for the most part. he will not come out and say something to your face that he does not believe. he is avoiding that conversation. host: jim from oklahoma. caller: more of a statement than a question. i have a small business have had it for over 50 years.
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i pay 5% income tax -- tax on income versus 35% back in 3 2008. this president has done nothing to stimulate the economy for the small businessman. we had to reduce our employees. i would love to step up my employees again by cannot do witit. his motivation is stimulating jobs in the government, not in business. it is the business jobs that pay the taxes that allow for the government jobs. host: maria bartiromo? hearinghis is what i'm across the board from business people today. it is the cost of health care.
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the cost of regulation. it does feel like an ideology to make government bigger and not necessarily do enough for businesses to feel like they want to or can hire new workers. this will be a problem. we have to ask ourselves, what is the priority in this country? is the priority to create jobs? if that is the priority, we need to come up with ways to do that . that does not include scare tactics and taxes are going to go up. this is not a red or blue situation.
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this is about money. this is about encouraging businesses to put money to work and create new heads to the payroll. that is not being done. i have this from small businesses. i say that it makes sense. if i had a small business, what i'd hire more people if i had no idea what my tax rate and health care expenses were going to be? of course i would wait. the longer we wait, the lumber will look at economic growth falling -- the longer we will look at economic growth falling. caller: good morning.
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i look at apple. they must be doing something because everybody in new york city was lining up to buy their products. some people want to sit on their money for spite. there is nothing you can do about that. blame the president for congress not getting together. he did not mention john boehner. business is always a risk. if you're not willing to take the risk, lets someone else do it. guest: there is a lot of blame to go around in terms of congress. john boehner should be providing leadership to make sure a deal gets done. bob woodward has interviews with
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john boehner and the president. the debt ceiling debate just fell flat. america is hanging in the balance about the amount of taxes and spending. here we are one year later at the same stalemate waiting for this fiscal cliff. apple has been a very successful company and a big product that people want. apple is sitting on $40 billion of cash. much of that money is overseas. that money is not coming back here unless there is an environment that is fair ball to apple. -- that is favorable to apple. that is one of those companies -- if they brought the money
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back to the u.s., they could be a bigger contributor to this economy. apple is a proud american company. look on the other side of your iphone, says "made in china." host: this is jon on our republican line. caller: it is and not to talk to you. i watch cnbc. i have a question -- does any of the money from qe3 going toward europe's debt? why is gold going up when the dow is also going up?
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call overke your the tv. thank you. guest: thank you so much. on qe3, the qe3 will be the federal reserve buying back mortgage-backed securities at a rate of $40 million a month. does that lead to job creation? there is a debate about that. people say the fed throwing money at the economy will not mean new jobs created. it will mean money moving into hard assets and higher-yielding assets like stocks. we have of the money that we sent to europe through the imf
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fare other programs. there is an indirect -- money going to europe but it would not be the qe3. people flock to hard assets. "i would rather hold something tangible than something that is not tangible." concerned it has pushed money into gold. the relationship between the dollar and gold is impacting gold. most money managers would say you want to have some exposure to gold. gold has been pricey. people want hard assets. that is one reason why gold has
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boosted. there is demand coming from india. host: we have two tweets. this is atlanta progressive -- tlprogressive. ary tweets in -- guest: i think these are important issues. in terms of free rein, i don't think we should give anybody a free rein. i do not think we should have an environment where businesses are afraid or unwilling to spend money and hire workers. i think businesses is the place where job creation happens.
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you do need some kind of encouragement for businesses to create jobs. that is not to say anybody should have free rein. we have a structure in this country that involves businesses that are overseen by government. financial agencies that oversee the banking sector and the housing sector and those government agencies were asleep at the wheel. i can remember hearing barney frank saying everybody should own a home. this is the american dream. this idea that you could own a home was perpetrated and was pushed forward. you have to blame regulators for being asleep at the wheel, not
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just the bankers. many situations the bankers led us down. i'm talking about creating an environment that encourages them to create jobs. in terms of the second question -- we repeat the second tweet. host: it was about the bankers. guest: andrew cuomo said people will go back in the water when they know the shark is dead. the shark is not dead. we have not seen prosecutions from the financial disaster. some are wanting heads to roll. it is difficult to prove
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intended fraud. you know they have looked at this and are trying to prosecute. they have been unable to prove that these guys were committing intended fraud as opposed to being stupid and making mistakes. there is a distinction between fraud and stupidity. more people would go into the water if they felt police were on the scene and the administration has gotten some people under the umbrella to say, "it is your fault." they have been unable to do so. the securities and exchange commission's is overseeing the thousands and thousands of new players -- hedge funds, private equity. you have a bigger increase of
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what you're doing in the workload and you don't have the big increase in the players, you have a problem. think the sec is overwhelmed. i don't think they have the people that understand the complexities of this market to regulate effectively. that could be one of the issues. host: maria bartiromo is the anchor of "closing bell with maria bartiromo." thank you. we will talk with dr. marty makary. this is his book. his book is called "unaccountable." that is coming up in just a few minutes. we want to get an update on some
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of the senate races around the country. joining us is abby livingston, a reporter with "roll call" newspaper. we have been talking about the presidential campaign but there are some senate debates that c- span will be carrying live and that you have been covering. a star wisconsin -- let's start with wisconsin. guest: this is a state and the presidential race seems pretty competitive. president obama has pulled ahead by about five points in the latest poll. some of that is changing the trajectory of the race. tommy thompson seem to have the momentum. tammy baldwin is within the
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margin of error or a little ahead. host: why is that? guest: the balkwin surge corresponds with president obama getting some distance from governor romney. governor thompson was perceived as the best republican nominee. paul ryan nomination for the vp. suddenly wisconsin was back in the republican column. host: is tonight their only debate? guest: it will be an adjusting evening. governor thompson is a state wine brade brand. he is known as tommy and looking to label tammy baldwin
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as a liberal. she is from a single district and trying to run statewide. he'll try to define her negatively. host: we will broadcast the debate live on c-span at 9:00 p.m. eastern time, tommy thompson and tammy baldwin. there is another debate in nebraska. guest: it seemed to be competitive around late winter, early spring. democrats have been backing -- ben nelson decided not to run for reelection. bob kerrey is a state wide brand and decided to run or he was flirting with it and backed out and got back in and democrats were elated.
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deb fischer came have no more and she beat the establishment favorite republican. she has proven to be a better candidate than the republican. it will have a lot of similarities to wisconsin because she of the well-known male candidate versus the little known female. this is falling out of the democrats grasp. host: what is the margin right now? about guest: 15 points -- guest: about 15 points. bob kerrey has lived in new york for about 11 years. republicans were named him big apple bob. he has a son and a wife there.
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they have tried to paint him as a new york liberal. nebraska has shifted conservative. host: abby livingston with "roll call" newspaper. nebraska, the debate will happen at noon today. you can watch it live at c-span. 9:00 p.m. on c-span. coming up is marty makary from johns hopkins. here is his book. we'll be right back. [video clip] >> i was always shocked.
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they did it because they always did it that way or the had some rules. .t wasn't based on research i get skepticism about some of the practices and the way people were spending time and resources. people were doing these randomized controlled trials that were being adopted by people in the political world. i learned about the data and targeting in the last decade. this was a major generational shift. in addition to these new forms of research changing, you have this kind of cultural tension between allied the old practices and the new empirical movement. >> more on "afterwards" on c-
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span2. >> there are no ads. the c-span and video archives -- one of the most historical archives there are. i watch "washington journal" and the u.s. senate. >> c-span, created in 1979 and brought to as a public service by your television provider. >> "washington journal" continues.
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host: now on your screen is marty makary. he is an author of this new book, "unaccountable." i would like to start by reading from your book. page 115.
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guest: the more we study this problem, the more we learn about how prevalent it is. now we have the institute of medicine, large bodies of doctors saying, we have a serious problem with things that are preventable in health care. areason's i got into this of the science of medical mistakes -- ever since i got into this area of science of medical mistakes, people have
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come up with all kinds of stories. people come up after conferences and it is almost as if somebody has a story of somebody they know or somebody they love. host: who is responsible? guest: i think there are no villains in this game. i think everybody is well intended. we have an opportunity for hospitals to increase the level of accountability by disclosing their patient outcomes. doctors' groups have come together and endorsed great ways to measure hospital quality. 2,000 track them at the patient level. do we think the public has a right to know about the quality of their hospitals?
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host: haven't we been tracking outcomes for 50 years? we just keep increasing the outcomes but it hasn't improved. guest: absolutely. there are all kinds of outcomes to attract. services grow and every hospital. a lot of people are falling through the cracks. we have great measures that doctors' groups i just for how complicated the differences are in hospitals. i take care of some of the most high-risk patients in the country at johns hopkins. they are coming for third opinions. no one else will touch them. now we have these formulas to measure quality.
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host: what do most doctors say? guest: the committee right now is divided. one surgeon said, "i just started reading "unaccountable ." we should not be talking about our problems to the public." patients have a right to know just as they do before they buy a car or go to a new restaurant. people will look up the restaurant's ratings. you cannot get a bid on a service and that needs to change. host: the talk about the code of silence. guest: some say we shouldn't be
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talking about our problems in medicine. i don't think the government will fix health care. they have tried. they are not in a good position. patients can fix health care. they can be empowered based on who performs best. it is the hospitals. hospitals measure their performance and we can make that information public. host: the 25% figure -- is that pretty well accepted, the rate of malpractice or mistakes? guest: i was in denial and angry when i first heard these numbers.
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i am proud of being a doctor. some studies show is as high as one in three patients. the more we study, the bigger we find the problem to be. think there should be at the mitigation of lawsuits? guest: they are expected complications and part of the procedure consent forms. they occur too frequently. things like people not being told all their options. we need some common-sense malpractice reform for these frivolous claims. 20% to 30% of everything we do
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are unnecessary -- medications, procedures, taests. 15% of heart stents. these are major studies coming from doctors in those specialties. he should think twice and had a discussion with your doctor. host: marty makary is our guest, a surgeon at johns hopkins in baltimore. the numbers are on your screen. the book is "unaccountable." you take on hospital executive pay. why? guest: i talked to doctors and nurses around the country.
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they feel there is a growing gap between the front line doctors and their own managers. increasingly, i hear doctors and nurses say one of their frustrations is their own management. last year there were a record number of mergers and acquisitions in health care. some say these hospitals can be too big to fail. have to wonder if things go bad like the did it st. vincent's hospital in new york, who will take care of that population? i to take on the children's hospital that had a fund-raiser that asked children to collect pennies from other kids were the ceo made about $3 million a year. i think the general public is
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starving for honesty in health care. i have made mistakes with patients. i find they are starving for the kind of honesty. host: have you ever been sued? guest: i have never been sued but most doctors will be sued on average once in their career. the busier you are, the more likely you are to be sued. host: our doctors overpaid ? guest: doctors did not like "the form of kieat what you kill" compensation. the idea that you walk home with
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$1,000 for every operation that you do is something i feel the public doesn't feel is right. the cleveland clinic pays well but they pay them a flat salary. host: you have a suggestion for improving care -- cameras in a surgical suites. guest: most of the we do is video based. .rthroscopic knee surgery why not have that video file for the patient electronic health records? i would love to see somebody's prior procedure before i do an operation. i give them the operation on a i give them the operation on a fund

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